Stephanie Croteau died Friday in a single-car crash in Springfield, Massachusetts. Nearly two months ago, her mother and 10-year-old daughter were killed and 12-year-old daughter was injured in a murder-suicide perpetrated by a neighbor. (Stephanie Croteau’s Facebook page)
An awful situation became even more tragic when a Massachusetts woman whose mother and 10-year-old daughter were killed, and another daughter, 12, injured in a vicious murder-suicide in August has now died in a single-car accident.
Stephanie Croteau died in the crash just after midnight on Friday in Springfield, according to police. No other details of the crash have been released.
“There are no words to express what the Croteau family must be going through. Our heartfelt thoughts, prayers, sympathy and words of encouragement go out to the family, especially to the children,” Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno said in a statement. “It’s just unbelievable that the family is beset with back-to-back tragedies.”
On Aug. 14, Victor Nieves barged into his downstairs neighbor’s home in Springfield and opened fire, the Hampden District Attorney’s Office said. He struck Croteau’s mother Kim Fairbanks, 52, who along with the family dog was pronounced dead on the scene. He then went to a bedroom where he shot Fairbanks’ granddaughters ages 12 and 10. Her 5-year-old grandson was physically unharmed.
Nieves, 34, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in the apartment. The 10-year-old girl, Aubrianna Lynn, was airlifted to a hospital where she died on Aug. 17. The 12-year-old survived her injuries.
Croteau was at work at the time of the shooting.
“At 12:56pm, my princess Aubrianna Lynn’s heart stopped beating,” Croteau wrote in a Facebook post that day. “It was peaceful, she was not in any pain. She was surrounded by her family. My whole heart has been completely ripped out of my chest. It’s shattered. It hurts. The pain I feel is unbearable.”
Croteau called Aubrianna Lynn her “little Nani” and described her as fierce and a warrior.
“There’s nothing I really have to say because I am just so heartbroken and I am so speechless. I never imagined I would have had to bury one of my children,” she wrote.
Croteau’s last Facebook photo, which was posted just hours before her death, shows her two surviving children lying on a blanket at Aubrianna Lynn’s gravesite with the caption “Cuddles with Aubrie.”
Nieves’ girlfriend Monica Sanchez said in an interview with MassLive.com that he was under the influence of cocaine and over-the-counter drugs when his behavior had turned bizarre and he told her there was someone outside waiting to kill him before he raced downstairs and started shooting.
Sanchez ran outside after hearing gunshots and screamed for help.
Read Related Also: Teacher’s Aide Found Wrapped in Carpet in Ditch Was Murdered by Unfaithful Husband: Police
“The oldest girl, when she came out with blood all over her, she said: ‘Victor shot us, and he shot himself.’ So I ran back inside and saw him on the floor, and I just fell down,” Sanchez told the outlet.
Sanchez said Nieves loved the kids he shot and would not have harmed them had he been in his “right mind.”
Croteau wrote in a Facebook post about a month after the shooting that she hadn’t planned on going to work that day but did so to earn extra money. Croteau wrote that Sanchez called her to say Nieves was “going crazy.” Then 10 minutes later, Sanchez frantically called her back to tell her about the shooting. She heard her 12-year-old in the background screaming for help.
“The pain I instantly felt made me freeze in time,” she wrote.
Then she hopped in her car and rushed home. But she said while en route, a tractor-trailer pulled into her lane and crashed into her. The driver kept going and she tracked him down. She asked him if he realized that he had hit her.
“He said ‘no’ and I lost it,” she wrote. “I told him I got a call that MY KIDS were shot. Then 5 minutes later we both saw 8 cops and 1 ambulance: 2 cops in front, 1 on each side and 2 in the back. Little did I know all 3 of my kids were on that 1 ambulance.”
She described how a friend picked her up from the accident scene and took her to a hospital where Aubrianna Lynn was in surgery, her 12-year-old was in stable condition and her 5-year-old son was in shock. Aubrianna Lynn was then airlifted to another hospital. The next day a doctor told her that her daughter had limited brain activity and asked her about the next course of action.
“I couldn’t watch my baby girl suffer,” she wrote. “I knew we would never have the Aubrie we all once knew. Her laugh, the joy. We had to let her go.”
Aubrianna Lynn was taken off life support on Aug. 17 and died a short time later, her mom wrote.
Now, less than two months later, the family is dealing with Croteau’s death.
Her husband, Christopher Sierra, wrote in a GoFundMe page that the death is “another devastating loss” for the family.
“I want you to know Steph just like I know her,” he wrote. “We were together for 12 years and raised three beautiful, amazing children. Our relationship had its ups and downs, but she was always my rock. Steph had this amazing energy, charisma, and wit that made her truly special. She made every effort to show up for her children, family, and friends. Even in her weakest moments, she showed the strength of a lion. Everyone who met her can attest to the lasting impact she made.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
